Total pages in book: 158
Estimated words: 160684 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 803(@200wpm)___ 643(@250wpm)___ 536(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 160684 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 803(@200wpm)___ 643(@250wpm)___ 536(@300wpm)
While still moving forward and showing her that they wanted her.
21
Effie read the news report again.
Not April.
It wasn’t April.
She didn’t know why she’d felt so panicked when she’d heard the news report on the radio this morning. But a report of a woman being murdered near April’s hometown had just freaked her out.
“What are you doing?”
She let out a huge squeal and jumped out of her seat, her knee banging into the desk.
“Effie!”
She stared up at Grady as he rushed into the room toward her.
“Um, morning, Grady.”
Breathe through the pain. It was just a little bump.
“Shoot. I didn’t mean to scare you. Are you all right?”
“Who me? Oh yeah, I’m fine. You look nice this morning. Is that a new shirt?”
He sent her a look like she wasn’t fooling him.
Darn it. Normally, her acting skills were far better.
“Did you bang your knee?”
“Just a little bit.” She held her finger and thumb apart an inch.
“I’ll get you ice. Is it bruised? Do you need a doctor?”
She gaped up at him. Whoa. Way to overreact.
“Uh, no. I just banged it. It’s fine.”
He eyed her like he didn’t believe her.
“Would you like a coffee? Let me get you a coffee.” She wanted to get up, but he’d crouched right in front of her. So if she moved, she was going to brush up against him.
And she was pretty certain that Grady didn’t like to be touched. That was the vibe she got from him after working here for seven weeks now.
Which was totally cool, of course.
She was soo cool with that. Like an ice cube.
Yep, she could live in Antarctica, she was just that damn cool.
Also, she was an idiot.
Because what she really wanted was for him to touch her. And part of her couldn’t help but be upset that she wasn’t likely to get that.
Still, maybe she could squeeze past him. So she started to stand.
“Freeze,” he commanded.
She froze.
“Whoa, you could be in the army or something,” she told him.
“What?”
“Maybe a marine. You bark, ‘drop and give me twenty,’ and everyone in earshot would do that. Although I never saw the point of dropping and giving twenty, you know?”
Sometimes, when she got nervous, she spoke too much.
“You okay, Effie?” he asked in a surprisingly gentle voice.
“I keep embarrassing myself around you. And Steele. It’s just . . .”
“Are you scared of us? I know we’re intimidating, but we won’t hurt you.”
Oh, she knew they wouldn’t hurt her physically. But if she let herself start to think about having them in her life . . . fantasizing about what that would be like . . . then things were going to hurt.
Because she guessed men like the two of them didn’t stay single for long. She wondered what it would be like to have them both? Chardonnay had told her they liked to share, but she guessed that was just for sex.
Nothing more.
She’d been reading way too many ménage and reverse harem romances. That sort of thing just didn’t happen in real life and she knew it.
“Effie? Stay with me, sweetheart.”
“I know you wouldn’t hurt me,” she blurted out. God, why couldn’t she stay focused? “Sorry. I just . . . had my mind on other things.”
She waved a hand over at the computer screen.
Frowning, he glanced at the screen. “Christ, why are you reading that?”
“It’s news.”
“So?”
“So . . . I should read the news, right? I need to know what’s going on in the world.”
“You need to know that some poor woman was murdered in Wyoming?”
“I have a friend in Wyoming. She’s slight and has dark hair.”
“Sweetheart,” he murmured in a soft voice.
Damn. That soft voice could be her undoing. She felt it deep inside her. She wanted to keep listening to it. Wanted to hear him use her name in that voice.
But she had to guard herself against getting hurt. It happened to her a lot. She trusted the wrong people. She just wanted people to be nice. Was that such a terrible thing to hope for?
“Is she on her own?” he asked.
“No. She has a husband.”
“He’s a good man?”
“Yeah, he’s the best,” she replied, not understanding the sudden scowl that filled his face.
“Then, if he’s any sort of man, he’ll take care of her. So there’s no reason to think that she’s in danger, is there?”
“No. I just got freaked. I’m just being stupid. Right?”
“Effie,” he growled. “You know better than to talk about yourself like that.”
Right. She did.
“Are you worried for your safety?” he asked.
“No, I’m not scared for me. This murder happened in another state.”
But he was still frowning. “You don’t live in a good neighborhood.”
“There’s nothing wrong with my neighborhood.”
Well, that wasn’t entirely true.
He shot her a dark look. “No lying. That’s a rule.”
Right. Those rules.
She still didn’t quite understand why she had them.
But Grady seemed really into them.